Egypt in crisis as hundreds massacred

THE EGYPTIAN army yesterday killed hundreds of supporters of the deposed President Mohammed Morsi in an attempt to destroy protest camps calling for his return.

Thousands more were severely injured in the clashes, while the pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood movement claimed the real number of lives lost is much higher.

Interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi, installed following a military coup last month, declared a state of emergency. He said it had been “a difficult day” but insisted the camps had to be cleared for public safety reasons.

Mick Deane, 61, a veteran British cameraman with Sky News, was killed while attempting to film the bloodshed which began in Cairo and spread across the country.

Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected leader after winning a slender majority in 2012’s elections. But just a year later he was forced out after facing mass protests over alleged abuses of the constitution and islamification.

The ex-President is being held at an unknown location. Last night police arrested more members of his party, which had been banned prior to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.